FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 10, 2003 Contact: Andy Mele, Executive Director, 845-454-7673 x121 Manna Jo Greene, environmental director, 845-454-7673 x113 Cell phone 914-399-6071 Report Finds Indian Point Emergency Preparedness Inadequate Clearwater Calls for Plant to Be Shut Down BUCHANAN, NY - A long awaited report on emergency preparedness for the Indian Point nuclear power facility has confirmed what the Poughkeepsie-based Clearwater environmental organization and others have long been saying: the evacuation plan for Indian Point is inadequate and does not protect the health and safety of the people living in the emergency evacuation zone. In August 2002, Governor George E. Pataki hired James Lee Witt Associates—a consulting firm founded by James Lee Witt, former Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—to review emergency preparedness for the Indian Point and Millstone nuclear power plants. Indian Point is located in Westchester County, NY. Millstone, just west of New London, CT, is on the Long Island Sound. In the report released today Witt Associates stated that because of a wide array of inadequacies in emergency preparedness planning for Indian Point, “the current radiological response system and capabilities are not adequate to overcome their combined weight and protect the people from an unacceptable dose of radiation in the event of a release from Indian Point, especially if the release is faster or larger than the design basis release.” The report is also critical of FEMA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in that emergency planning is based on “compliance with regulations, rather than a strategy that leads to structures and systems to protect from radiation exposure.” An evacuation plan that is protective of public health and safety is a condition of license for the operation a nuclear facility. The Witt report confirms that the Indian Point evacuation plan is not protective of public health and safety. Therefore, Indian Point must be shut down immediately until the critical issues of public health and safety can be addressed. “The findings of the Witt report leave no room for doubt that the emergency preparedness plan for Indian Point is inadequate, and that Entergy, the plant’s owners, should not be allowed to continue operations at Indian Point,” said Clearwater Executive Director, Andy Mele. The sloop Clearwater, America’s environmental flagship, has been sailing for 33 years. More than 400,000 schoolchildren and another 250,000 adults have participated directly in Clearwater’s ship-board and land-based education programs. Members of this “Clearwater Generation” are active and informed—and they vote!